Senior All-American Patrick Fullerton advanced to Saturday's 1500-meter finals with his third place finish in tonight's preliminary heat at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

All-American gets Stonehill's weekend at NCAA Championships off to solid start  

Fullerton qualifies for the 1500-meter final for the second-straight year by earning one of the four automatic qualification spots with his third place finish in heat one with a time of 3:57.09. His time is the tenth-fastest qualifying time overall out of the 12 that will race in Saturday's final, but nearly ten seconds off his own school-record and personal best time of 3:47.34 that had him seeded fifth for the Championships.

Fullerton was running second for most of the first three laps, but got blocked off near the finish line before the final lap, slipping to the back of the pack. He rallied down the backstretch to get back up to third and held off Grand Valley State University freshman Larry Julson and Adams State University senior Drew Soucy for the position at the line. Adams State junior Andrew Graham won the heat in 3:56.45, posting the seventh-fastest qualifying time overall. Colorado School of Mines junior Mack McLain won heat two with the top time overall of 3:54.36.

Fullerton will run the 1500-meter final on Saturday night at 9:15 p.m. (EST). Sophomore All-American Corey Thomas (Brookline, Mass./BC High) takes center stage for Stonehill on Friday when he looks to claim his second national championship of the year in the high jump starting at 8:30 p.m. (EST). Thomas will then look to qualify for the 110-meter high hurdles final on Saturday for the first time when the preliminary heats commence at 10:25 p.m. (EST).

Tomorrow's live video webcast from the Championships via www.ncaa.com will start at 8 p.m. (EST). Links to the webcast and live results are also available via www.stonehillskyhawks.com.